Ontario family terrorized in break-in by car thieves with gun
A Brampton man is speaking out after thieves smashed his door with a brick and surged into his home where his children were sleeping, demanding his car keys, telling the terrified family they had a gun.
Vinay Saini told CTV News he wants answers from all levels of government as to why car thefts have become so common in the Greater Toronto Area that he and many of his neighbours don’t feel safe in their homes.
“And they’re yelling, ‘Give us the keys, give us the keys. We have a gun.’ My five year old was standing next to me yelling at the guy. I don’t know what came into my mind,” Saini said in an interview.
“I was thinking about my 16-month-old. I’m like, if something happens to me today, what’s going to happen to my 16-month-old?”
Surveillance video shows a white Range Rover pull in front of his house and one man dressed in black-clad gets out to try and open the door of the BMW parked in the driveway. He appears to try the door, while two others jump out of the car and head straight for the home.
One smashes the glass and the others start kicking the door in. In seconds, the confrontation between the family ends when Saini’s wife makes a sudden noise and the crew scatters and rushes back into the waiting Range Rover, which speeds away.
Saini’s BMW was damaged, leaving him paying a pricey deductible. The theft comes amid a rise in incidents associated with the lucrative international trade of stolen Canadian vehicles.
Thieves that used to use high-tech tactics to hack the cars and drive them away are trading tech for brute force, officials say.
Brampton man Vinay Saini speaks out after thieves smashed his door with a brick and demanded his car keys. Once they have the keys, the cars can be driven to Canadian ports and loaded on shipping containers for resale in overseas markets.
Surging car thefts in recent years have prompted national attention, with a federal government summit calling for co-operation between multiple levels of government, police forces, and auto manufacturers.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said in an interview he believes the federal government should be focusing on the ports, introducing scanners that could search containers quickly.
“Because it’s so lucrative, literally organized crime is banging down doors. We’re seeing violent carjackings. And so whatever steps residents take to stop organized crime from stealing their cars, as long as it’s easy to smuggle the cars out of Canada, organized crime will find new ways to get cars that are more brazen and more violent,” Brown said.
Peel Police statistics show that there have been some 2000 cars stolen so far this year, which puts it on track to match last year’s figures, despite previous years of double digit increases.
Surveillance video of a thief heading straight for a Brampton home in an attempt to steal a BMW. Over in Toronto, police statistics actually show a decline so far this year, with 2661 thefts in 2024, which is down from last year at this time, which was 3,025 – a sign some of these measures could be having an impact.
Saini says the figures are still too high and wants answers from officials about why his family ended up being put at risk.
He said he has joined a group of neighbours who are pooling resources to hire a private security patrol.
Dynamic Security’s Randeep Sandhu says the company has gotten many more requests for help since it started offering the service about a month ago.
“We started out with 25 houses but now we have 200 and are still growing. Yesterday we got a call for another 100 houses. It’s growing very much,” Sandhu said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump returns to his campaign facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order
Donald Trump on Wednesday will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order.
Ontario woman surprised after 20-year-old fines suddenly tank credit score
An Ontario woman says that she was shocked when fines from 20 years ago suddenly tanked her credit score last week, but the situation may not be as unusual as it seems, according to at least one debt expert.
Anger can harm your blood vessel function, study shows
Stress and anger can have a negative impact on cardiovascular health, studies have shown. New research points to just how the mechanism may work.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Swarm of bees delays Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles game in Arizona. An 'MVP' beekeeper came to the rescue
Major League Baseball fans had an unexpected buzz on Tuesday after a swarm of bees delayed the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game for around two hours.
Newfoundland fisherman says police broke his leg during protest that delayed budget
Richard Martin is spending this year's fishing season on land after he says a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer broke his left leg in three places during a protest last month that shut down the provincial legislature.
A 98-year-old in Ukraine walked miles to safety from Russians, with slippers and a cane
A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10 kilometres (six miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane has been reunited with her family days after they were separated while fleeing to safety.
It's opening day for the $34B Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion
Wednesday marks the official start date of the long-awaited $34-billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.
Will an 'out of sight, out of mind' cellphone policy make a difference in Ontario schools?
Ontario’s cellphone ban in schools has been met with mixed reaction, with some teachers concerned about constant policing of kids and experts applauding the change as necessary for student learning.